Finally… a productive weekend. After my load to Del Rio canceled at the last minute, we decided to go to the Veteran’s Town Hall with Congressman O’Rourke. At the end of the briefings, all citizens were invited to speak about issues concerning veterans that could be solved by either the Congressman or the representatives from the VA Benefits Administration, the local VA hospital and the VA Cemetery. I quickly jotted down a few notes and got in the back of the line. I had nothing prepared prior, but I felt I would never have a better chance to raise my voice than the present. While waiting in line, however, my phone alerted me that I was now dispatched to Laredo that afternoon… I would have to be quick about the present in order to change trailers and meet my load times. Talk about a distracter while on-deck! The issues I presented were three-fold, and may have caught his staff off-guard compared to a lot of the same complaints about the VA all afternoon. The first issue was about his example used for military certification equivalence during his opening remarks. His example was truck drivers and CDLs. I happen to be a truck driver who got his CDL on Active Duty, but I asked him to look further; beyond basic certification. The insurance industry runs the trucking industry and demands recent “OTR” (Over The Road) experience without substitute. This means that even though I have driven a truck for nearly two decades, I would have to start out with a trainer like the student drivers and work my way from the very bottom, just as if I decided to become a truck driver and went to school for it last week. My pay would also be based upon the same premise. He promised to look further into that one as he had no idea the additional challenges veterans faced beyond licensure.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 16:04:52 +0000
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